Comebacks

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Alberto Contador, 27 years old, born in Spain, turned professional in 2003. The following year he rode the Vuelta a Asturias, customarily held in Spain in early May. Early in the race, he began feeling unwell, fell down and went into convulsions. He was diagnosed with a disorder of the central nervous system and had to have brain surgery. There remains a scar that runs from one ear over the top of his head to the other ear. After recovery, he won stages in major races and twice won the Tour de France, in 2007 and this year, 2009.

Greg Lemond is a retired American professional cyclist. At the age of 18 he won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Junior World Championships in Argentina. In 1984 he placed third in the Tour de France, second in 1985 and won the race in 1986. In April the following year, he was out hunting with his brother-in-law, who accidentally discharged his shotgun, hitting Lemond and riddling his body with pellets, with two of the bullets lodging in the lining of his heart. After surgery came two years of recovery. He entered the Tour de France in 1989 and won, and then for a third time in 1990.

Joop Zoetemelk was born in Holland in 1946. He turned professional in 1970, riding for a Belgium team. That year he placed second in the Tour de France. In 1974 he crashed into a car at the finish line of a race in France, cracking his skull and coming close to death. Afterward he contracted meningitis. In 1975 he entered the Tour de France and placed fourth. He went on to place second in the Tour de France six times, and won it in 1980.

Ottavia Bottechia was an Italian, born in 1894. He was one of nine children and attended school for one year. He owned his first bike after joining the Austrian army during the first World War. He was taken prisoner but escaped.

At the end of the war, he obtained his own bicycle and began to enter and win races. In 1922 he was invited to join a professional team. It was then that he was taught to read. He won the Tour de France in 1924.